And this new research reaffirms that notion that scent and health are linked and play a significant role in how desirable someone is considered.
"We've known for a while that odour is an important component of attractiveness, especially for women," lead author Dr Ian Stephen said.
The research team assessed the amount of vegetables a group of healthy young men were eating by looking at the colour of their skin.
Specifically, they used a spectrophotometer, which measures the intensity of light emitted by a certain substance, to measure the skin's colour.
When people eat colourful vegetables, their skin takes on the hue of carotenoids, the plant pigments that make food red, yellow and orange.
The results show how much carotenoids are in a person's skin, reflecting how many fruits and vegetables they are eating.
The male participants were also asked to complete food frequency questionnaires to assess overall eating patterns.
They were all then given clean shirts and asked to do a series of exercises.
Afterwards, female participants were given the shirts to sniff and subsequently rate their scent of based on a variety of factors.
They were given a list of 21 descriptors and asked to describe the shirts and say how attractive, strong or healthy they smelled.
When they compiled the answers, researchers noted that there were certain descriptors that were frequently grouped together. Based on that, they made a list of factors that suggest how good the shirts smelled.
THE FACTORS:
• Animal factor: animal, meaty, oily
• Floral factor: floral, fruity, sweet and medicinal
• Chemical factor: chemical or burnt
• Fishy factor: fish, egg, garlic, yeast, sour, tobacco
Results showed overwhelmingly that men who ate more fruits and vegetables were rated as smelling more attractive and healthy than men who ate a lot of carbohydrates.
They also found that men who ate a lot of meats were described as having a more intense smell, but that smell was not considered to be bad. And men who ate a carbohydrate-heavy diet produced the least attractive odours.
They also found that diet only accounted for 20 per cent of the difference between the participant's body odour.
Prior studies have shown that a yellow-ish hue caused by carotenoids - which are present in the skin of people who eat a lot of vegetables - is said to be an attractive hue.
Noting that, researchers came to the conclusion that a diet full of fruits and vegetables makes men look and smell more attractive.
Though results were consistent, the research team noted that the main weakness was the small size of the participant pool.
However, prior studies have shown that the way an individual's sweat smells has little to do with what they eat, and instead is influenced by the bacteria present on their skin.
Schools of research have shown that scent plays a strong role in attraction. One study, conducted at Chapman University and UCLA showed that women were considered to be more attractive when in the most fertile phase of their menstrual cycle.
WHAT ABOUT THE SMELL OF THEIR BREATH? EXPERTS REVEAL 10 SURPRISING CAUSES OF BAD BREATH
Though it's not a subject most of us want to discuss, the fact is that bad breath is a problem that affects one in four people.
It's typically caused by sulphur-emitting substances in the mouth, which trigger the odour. These occur when cells start to die and decay as part of the natural process of cell renewal or they can also be produced by certain bacteria that live in the mouth.
How much breath smells depends on the level of odour-causing bacteria or decaying cells in the mouth.
This reflects how well you clean your teeth and the state of your oral health.
Gum disease is the most common cause of chronic bad breath: it leads to inflammation of the gums, which makes them swell and separate from the teeth, creating gaps, called pockets, that trap bacteria and decaying cells and increases the rate at which cells die.
However, you don't have to have gum disease - or poor dental hygiene - to have bad breath...
1: You aren't brushing your tongue daily
2: You talk too much
3: You're stressed at work
4: You frequently skip meals
5: You have unhealthy tonsils
6: You have smelly stomach ulcer bacteria
7: Your sinuses are blocked
8: You have diabetes
9: You're taking medicine that causes bad breath
10: You're imagining it
